Nuclear Fuel & Electricity Cost Calculator

This tool focuses exclusively on the fuel cycle cost – the cost to acquire, enrich, fabricate, and manage nuclear fuel. While understanding fuel costs is crucial for comparing different reactor designs and fuel strategies, it's important to recognize that fuel represents only one component of a nuclear plant's total operating expenses.

For the existing U.S. commercial nuclear fleet (predominantly large light-water reactors), fuel costs have historically ranged from ~$5–9/MWh over the past two decades, representing approximately 15–20% of total generating costs. The remainder consists of capital costs (debt service, depreciation) and operating expenses (staffing, maintenance, regulatory compliance, security). According to recent data from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the Electric Utility Cost Group (EUCG), total generating costs for U.S. nuclear plants averaged ~$32/MWh in 2023, with fuel at $5.32/MWh, capital at $7.06/MWh, and operations at $19.38/MWh.

This modest fuel cost fraction is a design feature of large light-water reactors: their economics are optimized around high capacity factors and spreading fixed costs over large output. However, small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced reactor designs may exhibit different cost structures. SMRs often face higher per-MWh capital and operating costs due to reduced economies of scale, which can make fuel costs a relatively larger fraction of the total, especially for HALEU-fueled designs where enrichment, deconversion, and fabrication are significantly more expensive than conventional LEU.

As a result, fuel cycle optimization may be more economically impactful for advanced reactors than for the existing fleet. Understanding these trade-offs between enrichment level, burnup, fuel type, and ultimately $/MWh contribution is the goal of this calculator.

Finally, it is important to note that management of high-level waste is not included in the cost calculation. Because treatment of spent nuclear fuel is often an ongoing cost and strategies can vary widely depending on policy and technology, it is difficult to accurately capture here. Additionally, advanced reactors may consider the use of reprocessing to recycle fuel, which would significantly affect the fuel cycle and waste management streams.

Source: U.S. fleet cost data from the Electric Utility Cost Group (EUCG), as reported by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). Historical costs adjusted to 2023 dollars.